Inside the New York Yankees clubhouse with MLB.com beat writer Bryan Hoch.

Girardi: I should have protested

Shortly after the Yankees were on their way to the airport, some of them grumbling about the disputed Billy Butler homer, umpiring supervisor Steve Palermo led the men in blue to the warning track in left field for a closer look at the walls.

There may be some clarification about the rules here at Kauffman Stadium in the days that come, but they probably won’t change the outcome of tonight’s game.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that he is second-guessing himself for not having immediately placed the game under protest, having followed crew chief Dana DeMuth’s argument that Butler’s homer didn’t need to clear both fences in left field to count.

“I don’t think I can protest it now. I think you have to do it right then,” Girardi said. “The reason I didn’t is because I believed the umpire that he knew the ground rules. I probably should have.”

That said … the Yankees didn’t lose only based on that homer tonight. They were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base, including Russell Martin leaving the bases loaded in the first and Jorge Posada striking out looking with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Derek Jeter was also picked off in the first inning preceding Curtis Granderson’s home run, so there was plenty to go around.

Back in time

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